Gordon Wells
I have owned a number of ancient automobiles but I only have photos of the first and the last.

The first I bought at the age of nineteen when I was doing my National Service in the Royal Navy. It was a 1926 Austin 7 "convertible". I can't remember how I found it but I do know that I paid GBP20 (app. $30) for it. I spent a lot of time repainting it pale (Cambridge) blue, recovering the seats and polishing the bright work. I used it mainly to travel the 30 miles from the port of Portsmouth (H.M.S. Dolphin, base for the submarine fleet) to my family's home in Winchester. It had a maximum speed of 33 m.p.h. and was very cold in winter. Nevertheless, I sold in two years later for GBP25 to a Canadian Petty Officer, who exported it to Canada.
As an undergraduate at Cambridge University, I shared a bull-nozed Morris 12 (circa 1930) with a friend. It was also a convertible; it had two seats in front and a "dickey seat" in the rear that opened to provide a two-seat bench facing backwards. I remember we had many great foursome outings.

(You can see a photo of a similar car at the end of the webpage that appears when you click here
On leaving Cambridge, I spent two years teaching in France as an Assistant de Langue Anglaise in a lycee, first in Caen and then in Paris. During the first year I took my 1938 Morris 8 Tourer. To add to our lessons in converesational English, I took my senior students on trips around Normandy. Unfortunatyely, my enthusiasm led to two broken springs on the rear axle - which I was fortunately able to get repaired without too much difficulty. My younger brother still has this car in his garage in the north of England.

Picture of Morris 8
It was while I was in Caen that I first saw the amazing Citroen DS, and immediately fell in love with its classic elegance. First produced in the 1950s, it was way ahead of its time in appearance and mechanical design. The Head of English at the lycee where i was teaching took me out in his newly acquired DS and I decided then that I wanted to own one - eventually.

I did have a blue Citroen GS Break for several years before I left England in 1984. I frequently took it on holidays to France and was sorry to leave it behind when I moved.

Then, in 2003, having relocated to Santa Cruz, I began to see a number of Citroens parked outside a house on my street. It turned out that they were being restored by Longueville (Lon) Price, who owns Central Coast Citroen, and specializes in DS, ID and SM models up to 1975, when Citroens were last imported into the US.

Having talked with him, I soon located a Familiale for sale and bought it for $2,000. The bodywork was in good condition, although needing repainting, and the engine was worth overhauling. Two years later, the work has finally been completed. I now have my own Green Goddess (ma propre Deesse verte doree). Here are some pictures:
Not so vintage. I couldn't resist the opportunity to buy a 1986 Jaguar XJ6 when I saw it going cheap. I had often wondered what it would be like to drive such an elegant looking car. Well, I can tell you it not only looks nice, but it is comfortable, quiet and very smooth. It's also a gas-guzzler, unfortunately. So I limit myself to driving it on longer journeys, when it manages 20 m.p.g. My problem now is that I'm spoiled for choice!